Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentences for Murders of Two Elderly Women
The Tennessee Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of convicted killer Robert L. Leach Jr. and upheld the death sentences jurors imposed on him for strangling to death two elderly Nashville women who befriended him.
Justice Janice M. Holder authored the majority opinion and was joined by Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota III, and Justices E. Riley Anderson and William M. Barker.
“We have reviewed all of the issues raised by Leach and conclude that they do not warrant relief,” Holder wrote in the decision filed Wednesday.
The victims, 69-year-old Sarah McBride, and her disabled cousin, 70-year-old Jean Poteet, were murdered July 8, 1999 , at their home. Leach approached McBride as she was gardening and asked to use her telephone to call his sister, saying his car had broken down. Once inside their home, Leach drank coffee with the women before stabbing, beating, raping and finally strangling them to death. Leach escaped in McBride’s truck after stealing jewelry and other items belonging to the victims.
“Having thoroughly reviewed the record, we find no indication that the sentence of death was imposed in an arbitrary fashion,” Holder wrote.
In a separate concurring/dissenting opinion, Justice Adolpho A. Birch, Jr. agreed that Leach’s convictions should be affirmed, but disagreed with the death sentences.
“I continue to adhere to my views expressed in a long line of dissents . . . that the comparative proportionality review protocol currently embraced by the majority is inadequate to shield defendants from the arbitrary and disproportionate imposition of the death penalty,” Birch wrote.
The court set an April 12, 2005 , execution date for Leach, who has state and federal appeals remaining.